


Goodbye, My Lover

by TigerLily



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-25
Updated: 2012-01-25
Packaged: 2017-10-30 03:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/327073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/pseuds/TigerLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Horatio's lover reflects on the redhead's untimely death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbye, My Lover

Red is the color of…

_Apples._

_Roses._

_Horatio’s hair._

I watched them lower his casket onto the supports that allowed it to rest above the open grave. It was a deep cherry. It was a red wood for a redhead. Horatio would have been amused at the irony and the symbolism.

I could still hear his laughter. I had told him a silly and meaningless joke the morning of the day he had died. He had thrown back his head and had truly laughed.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to stay strong.

I felt a hand on my arm and I opened my eyes to see Alexx standing beside me offering her silent comfort.

I gave her a weak smile and turned back to listen the minister.

I tried to hold back the tears, but they silently rolled down my cheeks as the minister said his piece about what a good and caring man Horatio had been.

Had been.

Horatio should have been here standing not me.

I’m the one who had inherited heart disease from my parents. I’m the one who had to retire early because it became too difficult for me to be a cop.

I had ignored the signs of Horatio’s declining health. He always had a way of making light of his problems, so I hadn’t pushed.

Now, I wished I had.

The day he had died he had gone to work promising only to stay half a day to get caught up on his paperwork. We had had plans to go out of town for the weekend.

Horatio had been quietly working in his office when his heart finally gave out. He had leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and had slipped off to his final rest.

It had been Speed who had found him, and I was grateful that Horatio hadn’t died alone. He had been surrounded by people who loved and respected him, which is how I wish to go when my time comes.

I closed my eyes and slipped into the memories I had of Horatio and our time together.

&/&/&

The firing of the salute brought me back to the present.

I watched the honor guard fold the flag that had been draped across Horatio’s coffin and hand it to Ray Jr.

The minister said a final prayer and then it was over.

I don’t think I heard anyone’s condolences or much else until Ray Jr. came up and pulled me into a fierce embrace before whispering in my ear, “Let’s go home, Uncle Rick.”

I looked up and smiled. It was good to hear that since not so long ago we had been at odds with each other. It had been the death of his parents that had brought him back to Miami for Horatio and I to raise. It had taken awhile, but we settled our differences, and now we were united in our grief.

I walked up to the coffin. “This isn’t goodbye, Horatio. It’s just a parting of the ways. We’ll see each other again.” I placed a red rose on the coffin and walked away.

&/&/&

Six months later…

I looked on with swirling emotions in my chest as they lowered my coffin into the ground. I leaned back into my lover’s embrace.

“I told you we would see each other again,” I said as I felt his lips brush the back of my neck.

“You never did go back on your word, Rick,” Horatio murmured.

“Ray is going to miss us,” I observed.

“He has Eric and Calleigh’s daughter to keep him busy,” the redhead reminded me.

“And Maddy?”

“She has Frank’s son to keep out of trouble.”

“You’re full of answers today,” I teased.

“And you are full of questions,” Horatio retorted.

“I have one more.”

“Alright.”

“We can come back and see how everyone is doing, right?”

“We can.”

“Good.”

“Ready to go?” Horatio inquired as let go and took my hand.

“Yes,” I replied.

We walked off hand in hand.

The End


End file.
